Power outage hits Everett

EVERETT — The workday got off to a dark start for thousands of people in Everett on Wednesday morning after a power outage.

Roughly 14,000 customers were without electricity for more than an hour as the outage created a patchwork of neighborhoods without electricity.

Twenty traffic lights went black in Everett at about 9 a.m., complicating the drive for commuters.

Maintenance crews were able to reroute power while making repairs to a transformer that blew in the 3800 block of Broadway in north Everett.

Two loud booms were heard downtown just after 9 a.m. and power was lost moments later. The outage affected customers in downtown, along the waterfront in northwest Everett as well as near Silver Lake and off 52nd Street in central Everett.

The last area to be regain power was near the disabled transformer.

“We were able to isolate the issue so that the businesses near Everett AquaSox stadium could be restored,” Snohomish County PUD spokesman Neil Neroutsos said.

The outage was caused when a transformer blew and came into contact with a high-voltage line, Neroutsos said.

Providence Regional Medical Center Everett relied on generators when power was disrupted.

Electricty was lost at Everett High School, North Middle School and Jefferson, Lowell and Madison elementary schools as well as the Everett School District’s main headquarters.

Everett School District spokeswoman Mary Waggoner was on Broadway when she heard the transformer blow.

“We thought it was thunder,” she said.

With traffic signals out, it made for a slow drive back to her office, “just trying to get across 41st Street,” she said.

Wednesday’s outage was the second in Everett in the past two weeks.

On Jan. 19, thousands of customers lost power as well.

“It is actually rare to have two outages in downtown Everett in a 10-day period,” Neroutsos said.